Predicting competitive anxiety based on parenting styles and comparing it in gender groups of athletic students of Tehran province

The aim of this research was predicting competitive anxiety based on parenting styles and comparing it in gender groups of athletic students. This study in terms of purpose was applied and in terms of implementation method was descriptive. The research population was physical education College students of Tehran province in the year 2019, which 225 people were selected by available sampling method as a sample. Data were collected with questionnaires of Martines competitive state anxiety (1990) and Buri perceived parenting styles (1991) and analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficients, multivariate regression and one-way variance analysis in SPSS-22 software. The findings showed that male and female athletic students did significant difference in perceived competitive anxiety, but didn’t significantly differentiate in parenting styles. Also, authoritative and permissive styles had a significant negative relationship with cognitive anxiety and authoritarian style had a significant positive relationship with cognitive anxiety. Authoritative style had a significant negative relationship with physical anxiety and authoritarian style had a significant positive relationship with physical anxiety, but the permissive style didn’t have a significant relationship with it. Authoritative and permissive styles had a significant positive relationship with self-confidence and authoritarian style had a significant negative relationship with self-confidence. In addition, parenting styles significantly predict cognitive anxiety and self-confidence of athletic students, but they weren’t able to predict their physical anxiety. Based on the results, to reduce competitive anxiety parents can be advised to use authoritative and permissive parenting styles, respectively, and not to use authoritarian parenting styles.